


Thin Ice

by akh



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-16
Updated: 2015-12-16
Packaged: 2018-05-07 03:33:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5441885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akh/pseuds/akh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bill and Laura, a pair of figure skaters preparing for the Olympics, find themselves at a crossroads when Laura breaks her leg only months before the big event.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thin Ice

**Author's Note:**

> This started as a three sentence fic on Tumblr for a "Bill/Laura + figure skating AU", and here's how the story evolved.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own the characters and I make no profit whatsoever writing this.

“It’s broken,” Cottle tells her in the way only he can, bluntly and without mincing his words.

Laura had known it already, of course, but it doesn’t make it any easier to hear the confirmation.

When she hobbles out of Cottle's practice, her right leg encased in a heavy cast, she can see her own disappointment reflected in Bill's eyes. She can't look into them for long.

"Four months," she hears herself say in a dull voice. The same amount of time that remains until the Olympics. "I won't be able to skate for at least four months."

She should tell Bill it’s not too late to find another partner, but she can’t find it in her to say the words.

She can see his jaw clench, and she knows he must be running through the same calculations in his own head. He'd never say it to her, but he is an athlete too, and they've both been training for this for years. Just because her dream is over, doesn't have to mean that his has to be as well.

Laura knows it _must_ be on his mind, but it's not what he says out loud.

"There'll be other competitions," he states simply, his voice a little deeper than usual. "We can win the World Championship next year."

"Yeah," she replies meekly. But it's not the Olympics. They only come every four years.

***

It doesn't even take a week before Bill is skating again, this time with Carolanne, his previous partner. He tells Laura it's at the insistence of their mutual coach and manager, Ellen Tigh, who would have a couple at the Olympics if she had to scout every skater in the country to find Bill a new partner.

Fortunately for her, she doesn't have to look that far. Carolanne is available and more than willing to dump her own, inferior partner for a chance to aim higher with Bill.

Laura knows she should be happy for Bill, but when she sees him on ice with Carolanne, she can barely even muster a smile for him. Looking at the two of them, it's hard to imagine why they ever stopped skating together in the first place. It's a well known fact that they had won several medals in the junior circuits, and apparently been inseparable off ice as well, but the few times Laura has tried asking Bill why it ended, he's cut the conversation short. Now she doesn't want to ask him if she'll still have a partner after she recovers, or if this switch will be a permanent one.

It's bad enough coming to the ice rink, unable to even put the skates on herself, and watch the two rehearse together. Seeing how completely focused Bill already is on his new partner only makes it worse. She can't really blame him because deep down she knows she would have done the same, had their roles been reversed, but it doesn't make it any easier to bear.

After the first week, Laura stops coming altogether.

What she doesn't know is that, in the following weeks, Bill's eyes never stop searching for her in the audience, and even when it becomes clear she is not coming anymore, he never stops hoping.

***

Bill and Laura hardly see each other in the months leading to the Olympics. Bill is busy training on ice. Laura is busy rehabilitating her broken leg, trying to find alternative exercises to keep herself in shape until she can return to the ice. When they do meet, it's usually by chance at the gym, even though Laura, knowing Bill's training schedule, is keen to avoid him whenever she can.

"How's the leg?" he asks one of the times Laura has failed to avoid him.

"Still broken," she replies curtly but, seeing the hurt in Bill's eyes, immediately regrets the coldness of her tone. "It's a little better," she amends softly.

Bill smiles, looking relieved. "I'm glad to hear that," he says. 

Laura is about to move forward when Bill stops her, his hand grazing her arm. The light touch is all it takes to make her pause.

"I haven't seen you at the rink lately," he says, and Laura can hear the question hidden in the simple statement.

"Not much use for me there," she replies, unable to keep the bitterness from her voice. "I can do more for myself here."

"You blame me, don't you, for teaming up with Carolanne?" Bill asks. This time it's a statement hidden in a question.

"No, I understand," Laura replies. It's not really a lie, even though she can't look Bill in the eye. She does understand, but that doesn't mean she has to like it.

"It was Ellen's idea," Bill continues. "You know how she can be when she sets her mind to something, and the Olymipcs..."

"Look, you don't have to explain," Laura interrupts him, growing impatient. Then, composing herself, she glances at Bill and manages a half-smile: "Good luck, Bill," she tells him, placing a hand on his chest, feeling the familiar rhythm of his heart beat. For a blink she wonders what would happen if she kissed him, but then she pulls herself together and only presses her lips lightly against his cheek.

"Go win that gold medal with your partner," she whispers and then resolutely moves past him, blinking away the treacherous tears that sting in her eyes.

As Laura limps away, Bill's eyes silently follow her out of the room and remain on the door long after she has walked through it, his hand absently rubbing the spot on his cheek where her lips had made contact.


End file.
